CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

CAC divides total sales and marketing spend over a period by the number of new customers acquired in that same period. A fully-loaded CAC figure includes salaries, tools, ad spend, and content costs, not just paid media.

CAC on its own says little without context — it needs to be compared against the revenue and lifetime value that customer generates (see LTV:CAC ratio) and against how quickly that acquisition cost gets paid back (see CAC payback period).